{"title":"The quantum vibes of atoms and ichthyosaurs","authors":"K. Mølmer","doi":"10.2298/MUZ1824051M","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The quantum mechanical description of microscopic phenomena treats minuscule particles as waves and explains why atoms and molecules absorb and emit radiation at particular frequencies. This article reviews the physical theory of waves and discusses similarities between atoms and musical instruments. In particular, it describes how we may identify new musical scales and harmonies and play atomic music by translating and scaling the frequencies in the atomic world to the audible spectrum.","PeriodicalId":30174,"journal":{"name":"Muzikologija-Musicology","volume":"1 1","pages":"51-59"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2000,"publicationDate":"2018-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"3","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Muzikologija-Musicology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2298/MUZ1824051M","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"MUSIC","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 3
Abstract
The quantum mechanical description of microscopic phenomena treats minuscule particles as waves and explains why atoms and molecules absorb and emit radiation at particular frequencies. This article reviews the physical theory of waves and discusses similarities between atoms and musical instruments. In particular, it describes how we may identify new musical scales and harmonies and play atomic music by translating and scaling the frequencies in the atomic world to the audible spectrum.